No closure

CHILLICOTHE - Two years ago this week, a woman's body was found wrapped up in a tarp and discarded in a culvert off Cave Road near the Ross and Highland county line.

Officials later said the badly decomposed remains were 26-year-old Tiffany Sayre who had been reported missing on May 11, 2015, but her mother and aunt have been fighting for something more than words - tangible proof the woman put to rest is who they say she is.

Samantha Sayre, Tiffany's aunt, describes the past two years as a living nightmare as they seek closure about the woman they buried.

"They are fighting us on everything," said Samantha. "If you're for sure 100 percent that it's her, then why don't you give us everything we deserve? Why are you fighting us if it was her?"

The latest fight is for the lab report from the DNA testing this year comparing DNA from the body to samples collected from Tiffany's parents. Officials say the test confirmed again the body is Tiffany - the first confirmation came from fingerprints - but the Ohio Attorney General's Office won't give the family the lab report.

"I can't even go back to the plot where we laid her to rest ... Every day I drive by there and I say 'I love you' to my dad but when I go to say 'I love you' to my niece, I can't because, in my gut, it's telling me it's not her. And I've not believed it since day one," Samantha said. "Until I get these DNA results and have them professionally read by someone out of state, whatever it takes for me to go say goodbye to her. I need that closure."

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911 call: Body found in Highland County

Fighting for proof

Samantha has always doubted whether the body found was her niece. In January 2016, she voiced her doubt to the Gazette, saying "There's too many loose ends to the story."

Nothing has really changed for her since, especially as details shared with the family have changed at times during the past 24 months, some details don't seem to match up, and they've had to fight every step of the way to get records.

The first frustrations came in getting a copy of the autopsy.

The initial requests by the family were made before a cause of death was issued by Highland County Coroner Dr. Jeff Beery. Until the cause and manner of death are decided, the report remains an investigative work product protected by the public records law and it prevents the issuance of a death certificate families need to settle affairs.

The autopsy report and Beery's notes indicate he was prepared to hand over the autopsy and toxicology report - completed on Sept. 22, 2015 - to family by November 2015, but was halted by Ross County Sheriff's Office Col. T.J. Hollis who has served as spokesman for the task force investigating Sayre's murder along with other missing women cases.

Hollis had concerns because the task force didn't want it known yet that "there were no signs of violence on the body" and there was "presence of intoxicants." Photos of the body also hadn't yet been sent for review by a forensic farm in Tennessee in an effort to establish time of death. There's no indication in the autopsy or Beery's notes whether those photos were ever sent or what was or wasn't determined.

In December 2015 - six months after the body was found - Ohio's vital statistics department began questioning why no determination had been made. On Jan. 15, 2016, Beery made his ruling that while a cause of death could not be determined, the manner of death was homicidal violence.

“This case was clearly a homicide from the beginning.”

Dr. Jeff Beery, Highland County Coroner

"This case was clearly a homicide from the beginning," Beery recently told the Gazette.

Although the autopsy records could have been released at that time, the family didn't receive them until another formal request was made in August 2016 by an attorney.

Last summer, the Sayres began talking with Radical Media which is producing the upcoming docuseries "Gone: The Forgotten Women of Ohio." According to Samantha, Radical Media arranged for them to be represented at no cost to the Sayres by Courtney Kinter, an attorney out of West Chester.

With her help, they were able to arrange a meeting to see one picture from the autopsy - a tattoo of the name "Joseph." When they saw it, Samantha said she and her mother Ruth Sayre instantly doubted it was Tiffany's. Samantha said the lettering looked wrong, it had too much color, and was "too perfect."

"It was not an actual photo. It was on a computer. Anybody could go in Google it, put his name up there, make your own tattoo and say, 'Ha, there you go,'" Samantha said. "I'm not dumb. Sorry, I didn't believe it."

Joe Minney points out the area they are searching on a map Monday, June 22, 2015, at a command station set up off of U.S. 50. The body of Tiffany Sayre was found Saturday night off of Cave Road.(Photo: Jess Grimm/Chillicothe Gazette)

Chillicothe Police Chief Keith Washburn, left, Ross County Sheriff George Lavender, center, and Highland County Sheriff Donnie Barerra answer questions during a press conference Monday, June 22, 2015, off of U.S. 50 near the area where Tiffany Sayre's body was found on Cave Road.(Photo: Jess Grimm/Chillicothe Gazette)

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Identity confirmed?

Officials have no questions about the identity of the body found on June 20, 2015. The first indication the body - too badly decomposed for a visual confirmation - was Tiffany came that day when Beery recalled a Ross County Sheriff's detective having a conversation with who he believed was Tiffany's grandmother.

They described the clothes found - a pair of Daisy Duke style shorts and a women's shirt "split cleanly" - and was told it matched what Tiffany may have been wearing, Beery said. Samantha and Connie said their mother claims she never confirmed anything but it's unclear from the records they have who the detective spoke to.

Beery's notes indicate state investigators didn't think they could get good fingerprints from the body at the scene but may be able to after the body had cooled at the morgue. According to Beery, decomposition causes the skin to warm and slip, making it fragile. However, once the skin cools, the proteins become firm again, making it more stable to handle the body and obtain fingerprints.

The autopsy was performed in Montgomery County on June 21, 2015, where the report reads they were able to obtain fingerprints and they matched those on record for Tiffany.

Samantha can't fathom how they obtained fingerprints. Once the body arrived at Ware Funeral Home, she insisted they let her see the body despite their advice not to due to the decomposition.

"What we saw, I don't understand how they got fingerprints. I don't understand why they didn't do no DNA (test)," Samantha said.

When Ruth and Samantha said the tattoo in the picture wasn't Tiffany's, state investigators agreed to do a DNA test and collected samples from Connie and, according to records, from Tiffany's father Thomas Kuhn.

The next day, Connie said she received a call from an unknown male claiming the sample had been lost, but they've never been able to determine who made the call. Connie said a state investigator she talked to claimed nothing was lost and he'd delivered the samples himself to the lab in London.

In March, Connie was contacted by state investigators by phone saying the lab comparison of their DNA to that from the body confirmed the identity as Tiffany.

When they asked for something in writing - a copy of the lab's report - they were promised a letter.

“It remains unclear as to why this family has been denied relief when it seems to be something so easy to provide.”

Kinter requested the DNA lab report in April, writing that the report "would unequivocally confirm the identity of Tiffany and would contribute significantly to the family's healing process. It remains unclear as to why this family has been denied relief when it seems to be something so easy to provide."

The request was rejected in a May 11 letter due to the open investigation. Ohio Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Jill Del Greco told the Gazette they don't close portions of a case, such as identification of a victim, and the lab report confirming the identity is part of the open homicide investigation.

The letter promised to the Sayres was sent June 7 - months after it was first promised. Del Greco said this may have been the first time a family has ever requested DNA results in writing, adding they usually only verbally confirm results with family.

"The time was necessary due to the ad hoc nature of the letter, the sensitivity surrounding the contents of the letter, and the ongoing investigation," Del Greco said.

Chillicothe Police Chief Keith Washburn confirmed the investigation is "still very much open and being investigated."

"From all evidence that I've seen and all meetings I've attended with those working on the case, (the body found is) Tiffany Sayre," Washburn said. "I haven't see anything to the contrary."

A suit for the report is an option being discussed, but not yet pursued. Samantha said they also have talked about exhuming the body to do their own testing as a last resort to find closure for the whole family, especially Tiffany's children who are 5 and 8 years old.

"It's a big hassle to go through but I have to have closure," Samantha said. "Our whole family has been through a living nightmare and I just hope no other family has to go through what we went through. Everything we have asked for is public record."